Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Continuing with my "canonical" paint job practicing (DC Dread paintjob here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/392371.page), I found this Grey Knight at my FLGS and decided to paint him up appropriately. Overall I'm happy with him. My washes got a little sloppy in some parts, but relative to some of my other work, it's a definite improvement. I wish I could find a silver paint that went on smoother than GW paint. Mithril Silver can be quite goopy, and there are some sections that reflect that.

His heraldry emblem is a little too textured. I applied a satin varnish, and it dried with a bit of a texture. That's what I want to work on the most; getting a smooth varnish, be it satin or matte. I've achieved it here and there, and when it works, it's amazing. I just need more practice.

Grey Knight army was the next army I wanted to build (slowly), and this model gives me some confidence in being able to paint them adequately. This was a very good learning experience, and I can take some of what I learned here and make better models.

not bad IMO.. only the blade looks a bit too 'black' IMHO

Really nice work. Maybe a little too dark, but I'm no expert in GK. Nice effects on the sword, too.

Big Mek Snudrukk wrote:Really nice work. Maybe a little too dark, but I'm no expert in GK. Nice effects on the sword, too.

Compared to the codex, it's not so much too dark, as not enough range. The GW official guide (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?aId=2900014 says to use boltgun metal and wash with asurmen blue, I actually went with mithril silver and badab black wash, so I think the base tone is correct, I just lack highlights and fades.

This is an army that screams to be sprayed/airbrushed. Right now I'm debating if that's the route I want to go...

kuromahou wrote:

Big Mek Snudrukk wrote:Really nice work. Maybe a little too dark, but I'm no expert in GK. Nice effects on the sword, too.

Compared to the codex, it's not so much too dark, as not enough range. The GW official guide (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?aId=2900014 says to use boltgun metal and wash with asurmen blue, I actually went with mithril silver and badab black wash, so I think the base tone is correct, I just lack highlights and fades.

This is an army that screams to be sprayed/airbrushed. Right now I'm debating if that's the route I want to go...

What my friend has told me was that the prescribed color was boltgun, asurmen blue wash and then highlight with Mithril Silver. But as me and him have been painting his models, we've generally been giving pretty good coverage with the Mithril Silver because we have liked the brighter look, but that's just our taste.

And you're right, this is definitely an army that would like to have an airbrush. The power weapons particularly. If you look at all of the pictures on the GW boxes for the power weapons, it's most definitely done with an airbrush. I don't think you could accomplish that any other way.

I would agree with the blade needing to be more metally looking of a base. It looks weird to me for it to be black with the power highlights. You could also contrast the storm bolter a bit better (particularly with the darker armor) by doing it red instead of black.

One other (small) tip, I usually will dab the red part of my purity seals with a small amount of devlin mud or badab black. It helps to give some depth to the inner parts of the purity seal. Once it dries, I hit it with some gloss varnish to give it that waxy look. But like I say, that's just a small nit pick. Overall, I like the model and really love the eyes.

What my friend has told me was that the prescribed color was boltgun, asurmen blue wash and then highlight with Mithril Silver. But as me and him have been painting his models, we've generally been giving pretty good coverage with the Mithril Silver because we have liked the brighter look, but that's just our taste.

And you're right, this is definitely an army that would like to have an airbrush. The power weapons particularly. If you look at all of the pictures on the GW boxes for the power weapons, it's most definitely done with an airbrush. I don't think you could accomplish that any other way.

I would agree with the blade needing to be more metally looking of a base. It looks weird to me for it to be black with the power highlights. You could also contrast the storm bolter a bit better (particularly with the darker armor) by doing it red instead of black.

One other (small) tip, I usually will dab the red part of my purity seals with a small amount of devlin mud or badab black. It helps to give some depth to the inner parts of the purity seal. Once it dries, I hit it with some gloss varnish to give it that waxy look. But like I say, that's just a small nit pick. Overall, I like the model and really love the eyes.

EDIT: Pictures at top edited to show new sword

Yeah, I think boltgun metal might be too dark, but maybe with an overcoat of the silver it'd look good. I think maybe chainmail would be a happy medium; I'm going to try that in the near future.

As for the sword: I wanted to make an Annointed Blade (that Brochamps use) different from a power sword, and I've seen Castellen Crowe's cursed sword done in black, and it looks sweet. I probably cold have done some edge highlighting, but I went with a blend from fenris grey to shadow gret to ice blue, and then redoing the runes. I then put a asurmen blue wash on the bottom half of the sword. It's a pretty standard power weapon look for me.

I like that better on the sword... looks more appropriately blue